Vladyslav “Fire” Stotskiy, of the “Freedom” Battalion, recounts eye-opening moments of a close call battle he fought alongside Colombian volunteers.
Vladyslav Stotskiy received Ukraine’s highest award, the Hero of Ukraine, for his extraordinary fortitude fighting off the enemy at an encircled position for 67 days (from July 10 to September 15, 2024). The _Butusov Plus_ channel made a hair-raising documentary about those events in multiple languages: https://youtu.be/NF1_HKVmdL8
Despite everything he went through in the summer of 2024, the fiery Vladyslav is still fighting on the forward line, commanding a platoon that now includes foreign volunteers from Colombia. His _intercontinental platoon_ is part of the “Freedom” Battalion — one of the most battle-hardened units, not just in the “Rubizh” Brigade of the National Guard, but likely among all Ukrainian frontline units. (See here for example https://youtu.be/v8dO9s1S7fE)
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Source: fragment of the Vladyslav Stotskiy interview for Ukrainian Army TV https://youtu.be/QDGO6nVOOuE
Aired: May 4, 2025
English and Spanish translation and subtitles by the author of this channel. All rights reserved.
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*Notes:*
For the purpose of this translation, the individual call signs of the soldiers (“Fire”, “Ktyachyk”, “Nana”, “Pitbull”) as well as the names of the military units (“Khartiya”, “Magura”, “Freedom” Battalion) are set in double quotation marks.
The code names of the field positions (‘Kasatka’ and ‘Red Bull’) are set in single quotation marks.
(9:12) “Some brigades are accepting Colombians with gusto. For example: “Khartiya”, “Freedom”, “Carpathian Sich”, “Magura”
*”Khartiya”* — the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Khartiia_Brigade
(en) https://www.khartiia.org/13-bryhada-nhu-khartiya
(sp) https://www.khartiia.org/13-bryhada-nhu-khartiya–es
*”Freedom (Svoboda)” Battalion* — an all-volunteer battalion in the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade *”Rubizh”* of the National Guard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubizh_Brigade
(en) https://rubizh.com/eng/
(sp) https://rubizh.com/esp/
*”Carpathian Sich”* — the 49th Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
https://www.facebook.com/ab49ks
*”Magura”* — the 47th Mechanized Brigade of the AFU. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47th_Mechanized_Brigade_(Ukraine).
(en) https://47.army/for-foreigners/en/
(sp) https://47.army/for-foreigners/es/